beyondbrics

Beijing to the rescue! China is prepared to buy €6bn of Spanish government bonds as part of its commitment to help the eurozone out of its sovereign debt crisis, according to Spanish government sources quoted by El País, the pro-government newspaper.

The report was published as Li Keqiang, China’s deputy premier, is on a visit to Spain, Germany and the UK. There was no official confirmation of the figure, but Victor Mallet, the FT’s Madrid bureau chief, says that Spanish media have likened the bond buying to the Marshall Plan, through which the US financed the rebuilding of Europe after the second world war. His full story is here.